A secret British aviation project is being disrupted by a foreign power, until an effete but supremely confident military-intelligence agent, Charles Hammond (Ralph Richardson), is assigned the case.
What follows is a tense espionage thriller that refuses to take itself seriously.
Yet strangely, this odd mixture of screwball comedy and political-thriller works and everyone involved with this brisk comedy/thriller seems to be enjoying themselves immensely.


This movie is part of the collection: Feature Films

Director: Tim Whelan, Arthur B. Woods
Producer: Irving Asher
Production Company: Irving Asher Productions
Audio/Visual: sound, black & white
Keywords: Comedy; Drama; Mystery; Thriller; War
Contact Information: www.k-otic.com

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: sylpolo - - December 22, 2011
Subject: Great fun!
What a great, fun movie. Have fun watching, I certainly did.

Reviewer: Kodachrome - - December 12, 2011
Subject: I thought the movie was too modest.
No nudity, no vile language, no blood.

Despite this, I found the play to be delightfully light and entertaining.

Reviewer: DailySteve - - December 10, 2011
Subject: Richardson and Olivier together
Great movie, Olivier and Richardson are two of Britain's greatest. British stiff-upper-lip and comedy go together so well.

As for the reviewer who complained of immodesty, I don't think the Amish would find it too immodest. If the level of passion in this movie is too much for you I suggest you don't watch movies at all - for your own good, of course.

Reviewer: James Y. - - July 13, 2011
Subject: Q-Planes Review
Can't recommend it, it has some immodesty.

Reviewer: krishna kumar menon - - February 3, 2011
Subject: Hilarious
Where has this rare gem been hiding for so long?
This stiff upper lip screwball comedy is par-excellence. Ralph Richardson is hilarious in his role of a bumbling idiotic yet intelligent detective. The plot of aircraft secrets from Britain being stolen by a foreign power(with a noticeable German accent so that the viewer has no doubts on the nationality) serves as a perfect vehicle to exploit the comedy script for great entertainment. Ralph Richardson's repeated excuses to his girlfriend(ex that is ) tickles the funny bone.
Valerie Hobson is great as the newspaper woman always looking for a scoop to fall out from her brothers mouth and Sir Olivier plays the typical British gentleman.
Great entertainment indeed and needs to be seen by more.

Reviewer: bcourson - - August 14, 2010
Subject: Q Planes
Great old movie, you can tell a lot of James Bond ideas came from this movie.

Reviewer: Ed Jr - - August 13, 2010
Subject: Oldies but goodies
Once again, nothing beats the oldies.

Reviewer: accalaurie49 - - June 19, 2010
Subject: Pre James Bond?
Enjoyable espionage story, not too serious, well acted by leads and supporting actors, good dialogues. Some of the sci-fi-like toys and the way the planes use to disappear remind me of James Bond movies.

Reviewer: Albert Schlef - - April 26, 2010
Subject: Nice.
Worth watching. It isn't superb, but good enough.

Reviewer: billbarstad - - November 7, 2009
Subject: Highly Recommended
Ralph Richardson, Laurence Olivier, and Valerie Hobson are great as the stars, and with a fine supporting cast provide a fun and engaging 79 minutes. It surprised me to find a British comedy of this kind came out the same year WWII started in Europe.

I downloaded the 700MB DivX file, which is really an AVI. The video is fine, but for a green tint in most of the movie. The audio is clean. Audio/Video sync varies slightly, but isn't that noticeable.